R. Craig Collins > Common > How To

How To: PowerPoint © R. Craig Collins, 2005

PowerPoint Tips (to Creating a sample PowerPoint, below)(See this as PowerPoint, or PowerPoint Web Page)

Presentation graphics, such as PowerPoint can help people better understand what they hear, by adding visual reinforcement. Many people retain information according to the following rates:
10% of what they read
20% of what they hear
30% of what they see
70% of what they see and hear...

... so by adding a PowerPoint show, you can increase retention, as well as giving yourself a guide through the speaking. (Don't look over your shoulder to read it, though!)

Three parts of a presentation:

1. Introductory Slide – Contains title of the presentation, Name of presenter including their title, organization, and date.
2. Topics or Objectives - let them know what you will cover
3. Body of the Presentation – Contains slides of information for presentation, one main idea per slide. You may use graphs, pictures, etc. for clarity, or interest... if not over done!
4. Conclusion – Summarizes the presentation and makes a point.

• Dark backgrounds work best for projection, light backgrounds if the presentation is just for printing.
• The text color should really contrast against the background
• Never use red for font color, since it blurs.
• Limit each slide to 7 or less lines for readability.
• Limit each line to 7 or less words for readability.
• Use large font sizes... I prefer 44 for titles, and 36 for bullets
• For projected presentations use san serif fonts, such as Arial
• For printed presentations use serif fonts, such as Times Roman
• Every slide should have a title.
• Every slide should convey one main point.

Close the New Presentation pane, and change the left pane to Outline. Click to the right of the 1 ‚, and type My First Presentation. Press the [Enter] key, then the [Tab] key, then type by yourname.

This places the text 'My First Presentation' in the Title box. Pressing the [Enter] key automatically inserts a new slide, using the default type: Title and Text (with bullets). But pressing the [Tab] key tells Powerpoint to move one level into the outline, which on the first slide, is the Subtitle box.

A normal outline looks like this:

I. Major topic
   a. subtopic
   b. subtopic
      i. detail
      ii. detail
II Next topic
   a. sub topic
      i. detail

and so on. In Word, when using an outline number list, or when in PowerPoint's outline view,
[Enter] starts a new entry at the same level you are on
[Tab] moves the current entry 'down' one level, such as from major topic to subtopic.
[Shift] [Tab] moves the current line up one level, such as from subtopic to major topic.

So if you are at the slide level, [Enter] makes a new slide, and [Tab] moves from major topic to subtopic, etc.

Click into Slide 2. This will be out overview slide, which briefly describes everything you want to present. Type type Making a burger. Press the [Enter] key, then the [Tab] key, then type by Get a bun..This moves the next line to a subtopic. Press the [Enter] key, and then type Cook Patty. This creates a new entry at the subtopic level. Press the [Enter] key, and then type by Put Patty on Bun.

Press the [Enter] key, then the [Tab] key until you insert a new slide.

This would be a good time to save your presentation, perhaps calling it Test.ppt.

• Open Package
  
• Take out bun
  
• Put bun on plate
  

  Notice that we took our major topic from the overview slide, and just added details.

  Make slide 4 look like:
  
  Cook Patty
  
• Open Package
  
• Take out patty
  
• Put in Microwave
       ~Follow cooking instructions
  
  Make slide 5 look like:
  
  Put Patty on Bun
  
• Using a spatula, remove patty
  
• Place patty on bun
  
• Add lettuce and catsup
       ~Add additional items to taste
  
  Make slide 6 look like:
  
  Conclusion
  
• Making burgers is easy
  
• Follow 3 simple steps
     -Get a bun
     -Cook patty
     -Put patty on bun
  
• Enjoy!
       ~*unless you have high cholesterol
  
  
  
  Additional sound effects, movies, pictures, etc. can be added from the Insert menu.
  
  Choose Format/Slide Design. In the Apply a Design Template window, experiment with some of the samples. I chose Mountain Top. Close the right pane, and save your work.
  
  Now, let's run the presentation. Press [F5] to start from the beginning, or click the presentation icon in the lower left corner to start the presentation from the current slide.
  
  
  Okay, not bad, but a little boring. Now let's change to Slide sorter view. In the lower left hand corner, choose the four box icon.
  
  
  
  
  
  From here, you may right click and hide a slide, or drag a slide from one place to another, or apply transitions. Select a slide, then click the Transition button to open the transition pane, and again,experiment. You may apply this to all slides, as well. When you are happy, save the presentation.
  
  Double click the last slide to go back to the Outline view for that slide.
  
  As with Word, in order to add images, you use Insert/Image/from ClipArt...
  add a picture of a hamburger on the last slide.
  
  Additional tricks can be done with custom animation by returning to the regular layout view, click the text area, then right clicking on the text border, and choosing Custom Animation to open that task pane.
  
  Finally, when printing, you may print slides, handouts, or notes. If printing handouts, choose 6 slides per page, and print in Pure Black and White for the best results.
  
  
• Save your presentation as yourname-test.ppt